One of the big conundrums in the area of knowledge management (KM) is if what we refer to as knowledge is indeed manageable. In the business sector, KM started being introduced in the nineties with variable levels of success. One can easily look back and identify massive projects that have failed and this has led to a level of scepticism on whether KM is indeed a field in its own right or yet another management fad, created by management consultants to sell the latest miracle cure to companies who were (and still are) struggling with managing the ever increasing amount of data and information that are generated internally and externally and effects the success or failure of the organisation.
The term knowledge per se is used interchangeably with the term information. Indeed, for the normal layperson these terms may not mean different things. Theorists in the field have tried defining the differences between data, information, knowledge and wisdom and have come up with the DIKW pyramid which has since been updated with other variations. There are, of course, many contributions in the literature on this topic but I will focus on defining knowledge from the business perspective in this article and why it is important that business organisations start paying attention to the importance of managing knowledge.
Essentially, knowledge can be split into explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is considered the less complex part of KM. It can be defined as all the knowledge available within an organisation in tangible form. This can be in the form of reports, guidelines, client files, document management systems, information systems and where available, library collections. Together, these make up the explicit knowledge of the organisation and although I have seen various instances where this important resource is mismanaged, this is considered the relatively easy part of organisational knowledge to manage. If an organisation realises the importance of having an information professional dealing with this type of knowledge, that would be a first major step in managing its explicit information. From my experience, both the public and the private sectors in Malta do not give enough importance to information management. In many instances this can lead to low quality of service and increased costs.
The tacit knowledge aspect is considered the more complex type of knowledge and the one which causes headaches to knowledge managers across the world. Various academics and authors on this topic have identified the complexities of trying to capture tacit knowledge as the main reason why one simply cannot manage knowledge.
What is tacit knowledge? The Cambridge Dictionary describes it rather simplistically as "knowledge that you do not get from being taught, or from books, etc. but get from personal experience, for example when working in a particular organization". A more elaborate definition of tacit knowledge is provided on the business directory1 which states at the beginning of the definition that tacit knowledge is "Unwritten, unspoken, and hidden vast storehouse of knowledge held by practically every normal human being, based on his or her emotions, experiences, insights, intuition, observations and internalized information."
There are studies which suggest that up to 80 per cent of an organisation's knowledge may in fact be tacit knowledge. In the 21st century, in what we refer to as knowledge-intensive organisations, this figure could actually be considered as realistic. With millennials being more open to moving around and changing jobs more frequently than previous generations, the issue of tacit knowledge and important know-how being lost when an employee leaves an organisation is even more acute. What do organisations have to do to try and minimise the haemorrhage of know-how every time an employee leaves or retires? While admitting that there is no straightforward answer to this question, case studies have shown that having a proper knowledge-sharing environment and providing incentives for knowledge-sharing are critical success factors.
The provision of knowledge services within business organisations is an action aimed directly as providing the right environment to facilitate the management of both explicit and tacit knowledge. The foundations on which these services need to work are a knowledge-sharing culture and a learning organisation. In over 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors locally, I must admit that I have seem very few instances where these concepts were an integral part and parcel of an organisation's ethos. I have witnessed more instances where individuals subscribe to the notion of knowledge is power rather than to scenarios where one can see people naturally oriented to sharing their knowledge with colleagues and the management providing a learning environment which promotes continuous professional development. There are of course some positive initiatives which can be highlighted but we are still lagging behind in this area.
Business organisations which thrive to provide learning opportunities and insist that employees actively engage in knowledge-sharing activities are ideally poised to be successful in managing their organisational knowledge. The provision of knowledge services within business organisations brings together information management, knowledge management and organisational learning. The fusing together of these 3 components and the concerted effort to make them work hand-in-hand rather than in isolation is considered to be the best possible attempt to managing knowledge in an organisation. As one can imagine, a team effort is needed as this scenario cannot be possibly managed by one person.
In an ideal world, IT, HR, technicians and professionals, marketing and information professionals should work together to try and ensure that the entire organisation is geared towards managing explicit and tacit knowledge effectively and making it accessible to the people who need it when they need it. As indicated earlier in this article, there must also be the commitment and backing of all this by the top management. Embarking on such a project without having a champion at decision-making level makes the success of such a project much more difficult.
In conclusion, one may raise the obvious question as to why do we need to change the way we work and start doing things differently? One cannot underestimate the fact that working environments today are different that what they were 30 years ago. Most businesses today are knowledge intensive organisations and operate in what we refer to as the knowledge economy. Changes in the way we work are happening more frequently as organisations try to maximise efficiency and minimise waste. Knowledge has become one of the primary assets of business organisations and as we come to terms with innovation that is brought about by technological developments (but not only), it is easy to get distracted by quick-fix solutions and disregard what is still the most important asset of any business organisation - people and the knowledge and experience they have. KM is essentially about people and how they interact with each other, sharing the knowledge they have within (tacit) and accessible through their organisations (explicit) - don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
1http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/tacit-knowledge.html
Robert Mizzi
Manager | Knowledge Services at Ganado Advocates.